Friends Journal’s Young Friends Bookshelf, December 2017

(c)Halfpoint

This month’s reviews include First Day Stories by Katherine K. Newman, Fresh-Picked Poetry by Michelle Schaub and Amy Huntington, and Maybe God is Like That Too by Jennifer Grant and Benjamin Schipper.

FJ Review: “As they spend time in the garden, the little girl asks her grandmother questions. All of the questions relate to the adult’s experiences at the Native American residential school she attended as a child. The information shared is age appropriate and would be an excellent way to introduce that topic to young children.”

Eileen Redden is the assistant book review editor for Friends Journal. She worships in Lewes, Del.

FJ Review: “Elements of it will resonate with anyone who has felt loss, and perhaps the message will be clear to children that we must not bury our sorrows and losses, but must remember and cherish them.”

Anne Nydam is a member of Wellesley (Mass.) Meeting. A former middle school teacher, she now works from home as a writer and artist.

FJ Review: “This book would be a delightful addition to the library of every Quaker meeting where fair trade coffee is offered. Richard Sobol’s beautiful color photographs portray how coffee is grown and harvested by a diverse community in Uganda.”

Katie Green is a member of Worcester (Mass.) Meeting. She is a storyteller and has led workshops at the Friends General Conference Gathering and New England Yearly Meeting annual sessions.

FJ Review: “It is the voice of Obe Devlin, the 11-year-old protagonist of Me and Marvin Gardens, at once passionate and possessive, fierce and tender, that suspends the reader’s credulity and leans him in to hear more.”

FJ Review: “It tells stories of flawed human beings, living in a different time and place, with both passion and compassion. The publisher identifies it as written for nine- to twelve-year-olds, but I loved it.”

Paul Buckley is a Quaker historian, theologian, and the author of The Essential Elias Hicks.